Darkroom rentals in Toronto area

[JohnMeadows]

I just bought my first medium format film camera (not counting the Brownie I had in the 1970's), and while I am getting what I need to process the film at home, I am not sure I have the space to set up a fullblown darkroom for traditional printing.

Does anyone in the Toronto area have recommendations for traditional wet darkroom rentals, that won't force me to get a 2nd mortgage?

Thanks in advance!

[CGW]

Toronto Image Works or Gallery 44 for starters.

[David William White]

TIW I think has the cheapest rate at $9/hr. There's other places like gallery44, but you'd have to factor in the memberhip fee. See http://www.torontoimageworks.com/rentals_darkrooms.html.

What'd you get?

P.S. There's a bit of a standard process that avoids wasting time/paper, so sometimes it's good to have someone walk you through your first session.

[JohnMeadows]

Thanks for the quick responses!

David I got a Mamiya 645J with 80, 55 and 150 lenses. Going out to the Don Valley in the next few minutes to shoot a test roll (starting with a couple of rolls Ilford XP2 so I get get it processed quickly, but my plan is to shoot traditional B/W films and develop neg's myself). Very excited to try this!!

The funny thing is that I don't have a standalone light meter yet (although I have bought a Gossen Luna Pro on ebay, just waiting for it to arrive). Will need to take my DSLR along to use as a light meter. :-)

[BrianL]

Interesting, I never thought about a dark room rental. As I am in Toronto, well worth looking into as I have no place in the house for a darkroom setup but would like to get back into the dark room. When I was young, it was almost as much fun as taking the image.

[JohnMeadows]

I haven't done darkroom work since the 1980's, so hopefully it will come back, like riding a bicycle :-). I haven't completely given up on the idea of a full darkroom at home, since there is a basement bathroom in our house that no one uses, but it would have to be a set up that could be taken down if need be; a permanent darkroom wouldn't fly with the rest of the family :-(

[David William White]

Sometimes people just need to be told how it's going to be.

On the serious side, might be worthwhile to do a 'tour' of GTA APUG members with darkrooms, just to see how we've all managed.

[hpulley]

There isn't that much in the darkroom that needs to be permanent. I suppose if your MF enlarger is really big it could be a pain to move all the time.

I'm also setting up a darkroom for the first time since the early '80s. Hopefully I can do the first test rolls and prints today (probably old negs for printing today as the test rolls will need to dry for a while).

Tough to get some chemicals out here in the 'wilds west of Toronto' though. I could only find Ilfostop bath at Henrys in Cambridge and I bought all 2 bottles so don't try there yourself!

[JohnMeadows]

I'll be heading down to Henry's in downtown Toronto tomorrow hopefully to get some Xtol, etc. Hopefully they have something! Downtown camera was actually a bit of a disappointment; all they seemed to have was D-76 ( a classic I know, but I want to try something I don't remember from 1975!)

[CGW]

I'll be heading down to Henry's in downtown Toronto tomorrow hopefully to get some Xtol, etc. Hopefully they have something! Downtown camera was actually a bit of a disappointment; all they seemed to have was D-76 ( a classic I know, but I want to try something I don't remember from 1975!)

You might give this crew a call:

http://www.alternativephotography.co...oc-products-co